My social media feed for days and in some cases for weeks has been full of people either putting up their Christmas decorations and others moaning about people putting up their Christmas decorations!

I know some folks don’t trim up until just before Christmas and take them down soon after but for others it can’t come soon enough.

In Murphy/Dolphin towers we normally hang back a bit but this year we’ve gone for it big time already.

A couple of Sundays ago it was a nice day and I thought do you know what, I’m going to put the lights up outside. Amazingly they worked, even though they were tied up in knots from when I put them away last Christmas, when will I learn to put things away neatly. Will you remind of this in early January when I take them down again, Mark put them away neatly!

I wasn’t going to switch them on properly, but I couldn’t resist. As the dark descended, on they went. We sat with the curtains open watching them twinkle and then suddenly, the Whats App group for our road burst into life with comments about the arrival of Christmas at our house! Thankfully it has hasn’t descended into some Hollywood movie where each house tries to outdo the other but there’s still time.

Of course, once you start you can’t stop so up the loft I went to get the rest. Thankfully Lesley oversees packing these away and let’s just say they weren’t just chucked up there like my outdoor lights were in the shed.

I always find it an emotional time when we trim up, as each decoration has some sort of poignant memory. We’re not ones for designer decorations. I know each year there’s some sort of trend that you end up seeing the influencers post on Instagram or Tik Tok. No, not for us it’s the old faithful’s every year and it always will be.

When we carefully unwrap the baubles from their protective layer of old newspaper and place them on the tree, it stirs memories. Some baubles are reminders of holidays, others are gifts from friends and others family decorations passed down through the generations.

It's a right hotch botch but that’s what we like.

We trim up the mantel piece and pop a bit of tinsel here and there but sadly (in my opinion anyway) we don’t hang anything from the ceiling or put balloons in the corners of the room. Does anybody still do this? When I was young, we did this all the time, homemade paper chains and every morning they’d be on the floor as the glue had come unstuck! So maybe it’s best consigned to the history books.

So, we’re all set and ready to go. Is it too early? You may say yes but I think with all that’s going on in the world, the dark evenings and the cold heading this way, we need some light in our lives. In Scandinavia they do this through the winter months and call it Hygge. It is described in Wikipedia as a word that describes a cosy, contented mood evoked by comfort and conviviality.

That’s sounds pretty good to me. So, let’s not moan about lights going up too early, let’s find our inner Viking and get some Hygge in our lives!

I’ve got to go now because I’ve got to get that other important part of Christmas going, getting the sprouts on, I don’t want them hard on Christmas day!